Unlockable boot loader for new Xperia phones

Sony Ericsson has announced on its Developer Blog that it will “allow advanced developers to unlock the boot loader in a secure and legal way” with its new range of Xperia phones. They are the Xperia Arc, Neo, Pro and Play.

In recent years Sony Ericsson has been inundated with requests to allow developers to unlock their boot loaders, in particular with the Xperia X10. Until now the answer has been a resolute “no”. Sony Ericsson explains: “We haven’t had a secure technical solution in place to support this. Furthermore, the boot loader could not be shared since that would violate important business agreements with many of our partners.”

However, Sony Ericsson will now embrace unlockable boot loader goodness going forward, but it warns: “It is important to point out that this will only be possible for certain releases of the phones. Basically, your phone has to fulfill a number of requirements. For example, you can’t unlock the boot loader if you have a SIM lock protected phone.”

There are a number of other requirements too. Sony Ericsson explains that the easiest way to check is to try connecting to the Fastboot tool in the Android SDK. If you can connect, the boot loader can be unlocked.

They also warn that you “may void the warranty of your phone if you unlock the boot loader,” and add: “if Sony Ericsson does perform a warranty repair, Sony Ericsson may charge you a handling fee for any additional incurred costs due to your modification of the software.”

You'd think Sony would be the last company to authorise opening up their platform, what with the heavy handed lawsuits against those opening up the PS3 for home development. Guess the Sony-Ericsson execs are a little more relaxed than those at PS3 HQ..!